Prussian Generals of the Napoleonic Wars 1793-1815: Blücher von Wahlstatt, Franz Ferdinand Joachim Graf

By: Digby Smith

Blücher von Wahlstatt, Franz Ferdinand Joachim Graf. (1270). Son of the famous field marshal; born on 10 February 1778 in Gresonse, Kreis Flatow, northwest of Berlin. On 5 June 1792, he was commissioned as a Kornett in the HusR Graf von der Goltz Nr 8; he fought in the war against France in 1793/4 in the clashes at Hasnon, Weidental, Kirrweiler, Edesheim and Saarbrücken and at the battle of Kaiserslautern.

On 2 Apr 1794, he was promoted to Sklt; on 26 July 1794, he was awarded the PLM.

On 17 January 1805, he was promoted to Prlt and on 3 October 1805, he was appointed ADC to his father. In the war of 1806/7 he fought at Auerstädt and Lübeck and was then placed on the inactive list. The date of his promotion to Strtmstr unclear.

On 5 May 1807, he was promoted to Rtmstr in his father`s corps. On 1 September 1807, he was appointed Major a la suite of the army with a salary of Thlr 500 backdated to 1 November 1806.

On 21 June 1809, he was granted unlimited sick leave on half pay. Full pay was restored on 30 June 1809. On 27 November 1811, he was attached as a supernumary officer to the 2. Silesian HusR. On 16 February 1813, he was given command of the 1. Silesian HusR. In the Wars of Liberation he fought in von Kleist`s II Corps as part of the Army of Bohemia at Gross-Görschen (where he was awarded the EK II). He was badly wounded in the head and captured in the clash at Peterswalde on 16 September. The king was able to arrange his early exchange. On 11 August 1813, he was promoted to Obstlt, and on the 29 Oct 1813, to Obst.

On the 24 April 1814, he was given permission to wear the Swedish Order of the Sword. Next day, he was sent on unlimited sick leave due to the effects of his wounds. On 31 May 1814, he was awarded the EK I for his actions at Coulommiers; on 1 June 1814 he was created Graf Blücher von Wahlstatt.

On 5 September 1814, he requested sick leave until further notice, and on 29 November 1815, he retired as GM with a pension of Thlr 800 p.a. He had become mentally unbalanced and tried to commit suicide in the spring of 1815. He became so bad that he was commited to the hospital in Köpenick (Berlin), where he died on 10 October 1829.

Blücher`s second son also entered his father`s regiment and was on his staff in 1815; he retired as Obstlt on 10 August 1830 and died on 13 January 1834.

Placed on the Napoleon Series: March 2010

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